The present invention relates to a series of novel 8-(fluorinated methoxy)-4-oxoquinoline-carboxylic acid derivatives which have been found to have valuable and powerful antibacterial activity. The invention also provides compositions containing these compounds, methods of using them and processes for preparing them.
The compounds of the present invention are 1-cyclopropyl-4-oxo-6-fluoro-7-(optionally substituted heterocyclic)-8-(fluorinated methoxy)-quinoline-3-carboxylic acid derivatives and 1-cyclopropyl-4-oxo-5-amino-6-fluoro-7-(optionally substituted heterocyclic)-8-(fluorinated methoxy)-quinoline-3-carboxylic acid derivatives.
It is an unfortunate fact of modern medicine that many infectious bacteria are gradually developing resistance to the antibiotics commonly used to treat infection caused by them, with the result that known antibacterial agents are increasingly becoming of limited effectiveness. There is, therefore, a continuing need to develop new antibacterial agents, which may, even if only for a restricted period, be effective against infectious bacteria. Most of the common antibacterial agents in present day use were originally developed from fermentation products, although some are of wholly synthetic origin.
There have been proposals to use certain 4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid derivatives as antibacterial agents. For example, European Patent Publication No. 78 362 discloses a limited class of 1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-(1-piperazinyl)quinoline-3-carb oxylic acid derivatives, in which the piperazinyl group is unsubstituted or has a methyl, ethyl or .beta.-hydroxyethyl substituent at the 4-position. These compounds resemble certain of those of the present invention, except that they lack the 8-fluorinated methoxy group which has been found to be critical to the achievement of the excellent activity of the compounds of the present invention.
European Patent Publications No. 106 489, No. 153 163, No. 230 295, No. 235 762 and No. 241 206 disclose classes of quinoline derivatives, including amongst many others, some 1-substituted-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-6-halo-7-(optionally substituted heterocyclic)-8-substituted-quinoline-3-carboxylic acid derivatives, of which in some the 8-substituent is an alkoxy group, but do not disclose any compounds in which the 8-substituent is a fluorinated methoxy group.
Of the compounds disclosed in European Patent Publication No. 78 362, one, namely Norfloxacin, whose systematic name is 1-ethyl-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-(1-piperazinyl)-quinoline-3-carboxyli c acid, is disclosed in The Merck Index Tenth Edition, published in 1983, monograph number 6541. In common with the other compounds of European Patent Publication No. 78 362, this lacks the critical 8-fluorinated methoxy substituent of the present invention.
We have surprisingly found that the combination of a limited class of 8-fluorinated methoxy substituents with certain limited and highly specific classes of heterocyclic substituent at the 7-position and optionally an amino group at the 5-position leads to the production of compounds which have unexpectedly good antibacterial activities against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, in many cases far surpassing those of the prior art compounds. In particular, the compounds of the present invention have surprisingly good activity against several Gram positive bacteria against which the known compounds are ineffective or are effective only at high concentrations, for example Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis.
It is believed that the closest prior art is the aforementioned European Patent Publications No. 78 362, No. 230 295 and No. 241 206. We have surprisingly found that the compounds of the present invention show an exceptional antibacterial activity against penicillin-and cephalosporin- resistant Gram positive bacteria and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can be controlled only with difficulty with .beta.-lactam antibiotics, and which are, therefore, a major problem in medicine.